Vehicles—even though travelling along the same road—may for one reason or another travel at different speeds. For instance, a first vehicle may be driven at a vehicle speed way under the speed limit of the road, a second vehicle may be keeping the speed limit, a third vehicle may be driven at a vehicle speed above the speed limit and so forth. Naturally, in order for the traffic to flow smoothly, overtaking of slower-moving vehicles may be appropriate. Conventionally, overtaking—which may implicate a change of driving lanes—is commonly accomplished by a high degree of control by the vehicle driver.
In recent years, however, development of vehicles being at least partly autonomous has been, and increasingly is, growing rapidly. Some at least partly autonomous vehicles may require some initial input or continuous input from e.g. the vehicle driver. Other systems, for example autopilot systems, may be used only when the system has been engaged, which permits e.g. the vehicle driver to switch from a manual mode—where the driver exercises a high degree of control over the movement of the vehicle, to an autonomous mode—where the vehicle essentially drives itself, to modes that lie somewhere in between. Semi-autonomous or autonomous vehicles, the latter also commonly known as autonomously driven vehicles, driverless vehicles, self-driving vehicles, or robot vehicles, are known to sense their surrounding with techniques such as e.g. radar, lidar, GPS and/or computer vision. Advanced control systems may interpret sensory information to identify appropriate paths, as well as obstacles.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,666,599, for instance, provides a driving support system, which comprises a steering control unit controlling a steering operation of a vehicle, a lane keeping support unit performing driving support for lane keeping, and a lane change support unit performing a lane change by instructing the lane keeping support unit to cancel lane keeping. However, although U.S. Pat. No. 8,666,599 supports a driving operation at the time of lane change, it would be beneficial with an approach supporting yet smoother potential lane changes.